Connected by the Red String of Fate
by pyrosgaleforce4
Summary: "An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break." As if by chance they were all gathered here together, connected somehow by a bond invisible to the eye. But it was merely a coincidence, right?


**Yo.**

**I notice that it's been a year since I last wrote something...**

**...sigh, I procrastinate waaaay too much. I know I said I was going to fix the next gen fic...but yeah...things happened. While editing the chapter I realized a lot of the chapter needed to be rewritten since most of it was basically filler. And don't get me started on the two Deltora Quest fics . (Gotta remember to work on those...)**

**So yeah...for those of you who're waiting for updates, I apologize... gomenasai *hangs head***

**Anyways, I got into the Free!dom a while ago and really enjoyed the anime...and light novel (if you're a free! fan READ IT). It was cute, heartwarming anime with lots of friendship, funny moments...hot guys...fanservice for the ladies ;)**

**On a serious note, I actually didn't first watch free for the fanservice. Actually, I was introduced to it by a friend and the first thing that got to me was the fact that all the guys had girly names. And also because I wanted to know why Rin had went from an endearing little shota to a freakin' douchebag. And swimming's my favorite sport so...go figure? (I don't know, I'll probably watch most anime as long as it has an interesting premise.)**

**I'm rambling aren't I...**

**Anyway, on with the story...?**

**_Warning(s):_ Unbeta'd - typos and mistakes here and there. Fluff and cheesiness. Slight OOCness. (*bows* sumimasen...)**

**_Disclaimer:_ This work is for non-commercial use only. Free! Iwatobi swim club is produced by Kyoto Animation and directed by Hiroko Utsumi and was based on the High Speed novel written by Koji Oji. All characters and plot elements used from the anime and light novel all belong their respective owners.**

* * *

**Prologue**

* * *

**_Six years before present day..._**

* * *

Gou trudged down the corridor for what felt like the 100th time that day. While she enjoyed helping her brother with his packing (since it was probably the last time they would ever do something together in a long time), she couldn't help but groan when her mom handed her yet another pile of clothes. It was lucky that it was the last one otherwise she would have dropped dead if she were to run up and down the corridor again.

Likewise, Rin was not amused with the said pile of clothes either.

'More clothes?' he remarked when she saw his sister stumble into his room with a large pile of clothes.

Gou nodded. 'But Mom says it's the last one.'

'That's good.'

Gou dropped the pile of clothes on her brother's bed, next to his suitcase. She proceeded to sit herself on the edge of the bed and fell back with all limbs stretched out. Rin stifled back a laugh. Usually he would have told her to get off the bed, but seeing as she had been consistently gone up and down the corridor running errands, she probably needed this.

Rin went over to his suitcase and reopened it. He sighed when he glanced at the pile of clothes beside it. He stared at it for a while. Gou sat up and looked up to see her brother's intent stare. She looked at him curiously.

'Is something the matter, onii-chan**(1)**?' she asked. Gou's question made Rin snap out his thoughts. He waved at her lamely, signalling that everything was alright, and went to sort the pile of clothes on his bed.

While Rin started going through the pile, Gou had a better look at the inside of his suitcase. She wasn't at all that surprised to find that everything looked so neat and tightly packed. While Rin wasn't necessarily a neat freak he did like to keep his things in order, especially since he was going to stay abroad.

'Hey Gou, what's this doing here?'

Rin's voice pulled Gou out her train of thought. She looked at her brother and saw him holding up a light pink dress with ruffled sleeves. Gou recognised it as hers.

'I don't know,' Gou replied.

'Well I don't need it, so here.' Rin tossed the dress to her. Gou caught it.

'Is there anything else of mine?'

Rin poked his hand through the pile again and rummaged around. Sure enough, he found a spotty yellow pyjama top with a grey cat on it.

Gou frowned. 'I guess I got the wrong pile then.'

Rin shook his head. 'I don't think so. I think I found one of my clothes.'

Gou saw Rin pull out a pair of faded jeans. That was his alright.

After that, Gou and Rin started to rummage through the pile and sort out the clothes into groups. The task proved to be easy enough, but it was quite an awkward task to say the least. Gou found one of her singlet tops, while Rin made a face as he awkwardly shoved into her hands one of her undergarments. Likewise, Gou made a face when she found of one his. (Both of them made a face when they found one of their mom's.)

By the time they had finished folding and sorting out the clothes, the two of them had grown quite sick at looking at clothes. Rin could not find the motivation to repack his suitcase so that the new stack of clothes he had chosen could fit in. Luckily, their mom soon called them down to dinner. She was serving Rin's favourites since it was his last night. Rin and Gou instantly raced down the stairs, the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

* * *

Nagisa clutched the parcel he was holding tightly. He was glad he finally found it. After hours of searching he nearly gave in, if not for his dad spotting it at a corner shop nearby. He couldn't wait to get home so he could get everything else ready. Before he had gone shopping, he went to the swim club to ask Coach Sasabe for a favour. Now all that was left was to do was everything else. And he only had until tomorrow to do it! As soon as the family car pulled up at the front driveway he instantly entered the house, quickly took his shoes off and bounded towards his room. Hopefully he would not run into any of his…

'Not so fast little brother.'

….Darn.

Nagisa turned to find one of his sisters standing right behind him with a smug grin on her face. She had one hand on her hip and the other holding a floral pink dress. Nagisa's face paled. He tried to keep a smile on his face but it was hard when he knew what his sister was up to. And it wasn't something he particularly enjoyed either.

'Say…I found one of my old dresses and I was wondering–'

'No thanks nee-san**(2)**! I have other things to do, bye!' Nagisa spoke quickly as he tried to retreat to his room. Her sister pounced at him and pulled him in.

'You're not getting away that easily.' She teased. Nagisa struggled in her arms.

'LET MEEE GOOOOOO!' He cried. He was getting sick and tired of his older sisters trying to dress him up. He was their little brother, not some doll!

Eventually his sister did let him go, but then took an interest in the parcel he was holding. She grabbed it off him before he could protest and examined it.

'So, what you got in here, Nagisa?' she asked. She held the parcel close to her ear and shook it lightly. It didn't seem to make any noise. She wondered what was inside. Meanwhile, Nagisa was panicking. He definitely _did not_ want his sister handling the parcel, as she might ruin what was inside without knowing it.

'Give it back!'

His sister ignored him. She started turning the parcel on its side and kept holding it up higher when Nagisa tried to reach for it.

'NEE-SAN!'

At this point Nagisa was positively fuming. His sister could be so mean! He lunged at his sister so and threw her off balance, snatched the parcel out of her hands and bolted into his room before she could say another word. He slammed the door – HARD – and backed several tall items on the door – just in case. He was just about to find a hiding place for the parcel when said sister tried to enter through his bedroom door.

Nagisa reacted in an instant. He leaned back against the door as hard as he could, in order to keep her out. Unfortunately, since his sister was the older one, she had the obvious advantage and eventually had him coming out in defeat.

Nagisa face was set in a nasty scowl when he came to greet his sister. He held the parcel protectively against his chest, just in case she tried to steal it again. To his surprise, his sister just smiled at him and ruffled his hair.

'Don't worry, I won't.' She said, getting his gist. Nagisa's felt his face soften and found himself returning her smile. His sister then handed him the home phone. 'There's a call waiting for you.'

'Who's it from?'

'One of your friends…I think. He told me his name was Makoto.' And with that his sister left.

Nagisa went back into his room thinking that his sisters – at least one of them – might actually be okay…until his sister poked her head through the door.

'By the way Nagisa,' she started to say while holding the same white dress she had before, 'can you–'

'NO WAY.' Nagisa slammed the door in an instant. Forget what he said before, his sisters were still mean.

Nagisa set the parcel down on his bedside table, before realising that he still had the phone in his hand and suddenly remembered that poor Makoto was still on the other line, waiting for someone to answer. Whoops.

'Hello**(3)**? Mako-chan are you still there?' Nagisa spoke into the phone frantically. He felt guilty for leaving Makoto hanging like that.

'Yeah I am, and Haru's here too.'

'Oh.' Nagisa picked at the ground. The fact that Haruka had to wait as well made him feel guiltier. 'Sorry for the wait.'

'That's okay,' Makoto reassured him. 'Did I catch you at a bad time?'

'No, I was going to call you later anyway.' Which was true. If he hadn't run into one of his sisters he would've put the parcel in a safe place and then call the others to see if they had finished their part of the preparations. 'So, how's it going?'

'Wait, let me check…' On the other side of the line Makoto poked his head into kitchen to see if the cake was ready. He saw that Haruka had finished icing and frosting the sponge cake and was now putting the finishing touches. 'Almost done.'

'And the decorations?'

Makoto looked at the large box in the corner filled up to the brim in party decorations. 'Yeah we got them. What about you Nagisa, you found the perfect gift?'

Nagisa grinned. He patted the parcel and brought it next to him. 'Yep, got it right here.'

At that moment Haruka set down the newly decorated cake on the kotatsu**(4)** and sat down next to Makoto. Makoto gawked at it.

'Wow Haru, the cake looks amazing!'

Haruka looked away slightly, flustered by the compliment. 'It's only a cake.'

Nagisa seemed to have heard the conversation between them and asked, 'Hey Mako-chan, did Haru-chan finish the cake?'

Makoto nodded. 'You should see it Nagisa, it's incredible.'

'I bet it is! Rin-chan will be so surprised.'

'Can you give me the phone?' Haruka suddenly asked.

Makoto blinked. 'Huh? Do you want to speak with Nagisa, Haru?'

Haruka gave an exasperated sigh. 'Just give it.'

Makoto handed Haruka the phone. 'Nagisa, is everything ready?'

'Ah Haru-chan! Yep, and I already asked Goro-chan if we could use swimming pool.'

'Now all you need to do is call Rin?'

'Uh-huh.'

'Good luck.'

Nagisa smiled. 'Thanks, Haru-chan!'

Haruka handed the phone back to Makoto. Makoto smiled fondly at him. Haruka could be really sweet sometimes. Haruka looked back Makoto suspiciously wondering what on earth was he smiling about. Makoto seemed to get what he thinking.

'Don't worry Haru, it's nothing.' He replied absentmindedly to Haruka. Haruka just sighed and mumbled something about cleaning up, before taking the cake and disappearing back into the kitchen, leaving Makoto deal with Nagisa on the other end on the phone. Speaking of Nagisa, Makoto wondered if he had already hung up.

'Nagisa, are you still there?'

'Yeah.' Nagisa looked up at the clock – it was getting late. He still needed to call Rin as well and Makoto sounded as if he and Haruka were preoccupied. Maybe they should finish the call. Nagisa asked just to make sure. 'Do you think we should finish the call now?'

'Well, I don't want Haru to do all the cleaning up by himself so…we probably should.'

'Okay then. Good luck with your cleaning, Mako-chan! Say goodbye to Haru-chan for me, too!'

'Thanks, and I will. Hope everything goes well with Rin as well.'

'Ah, thanks Mako-chan! Alright then, I'll see you guys tomorrow. Don't be late!'

'We won't.' Makoto replied before he hung up.

* * *

Back in the Matsuoka Household, when Gou came into her brother's room she saw him…sitting on his suitcase. Gou titled her head in confusion. What on Earth was her brother doing?

'Um, onii-chan–'

'Don't ask.' Rin quickly cut her off before she could say anything. The stupid suitcase wouldn't shut.

While Rin was busy trying to get his suitcase closed, Gou went over to his bookshelf. She grabbed one of his swimmer magazines and flicked through it. As expected, there were several different articles about famous swimmers, swim competitions, tips on stroke technique – just about anything to do with swimming really. Gou zoomed through the articles and wasn't really paying much attention to the contexts….until she reached a swimsuit modelling article.

…a _male_ swimsuit modelling article.

Naturally, being only almost eleven**(5)** Gou quickly flicked over the page and pretended to see nothing…but quickly flicked back as she just couldn't help but look. It wasn't long until Gou found herself infatuated by the swimsuit models' _wonderfully toned and amazing muscles. _Which was funny, because swimming had never really interested her much – at least, not like her brother was. Maybe it was because elementary school swimmers didn't have much muscle to them, she thought.

'…Since when were you interested in swimming?'

Gou jumped at the sudden sound of a person's voice and quickly shut the magazine. She looked up to see her brother looking over her shoulder at her with a curious look on his face. Gou grinned back sheepishly.

'I just wanted to try reading a different magazine.' She said as she awkwardly put back the magazine back on the bookshelf.

At that moment their mom called for one of them to answer the phone. Taking the chance, Gou casually skipped out her older brother's room, leaving him with a slightly dazed look on his face.

* * *

Gou reached the phone at the third ring. 'Hello? Matsuoka Residence, Gou speaking.' She instantaneous recited.

A slightly familiar voice answered her. 'Gou…? Oh right, you're Rin-chan's sister aren't you?'

Gou giggled. At first she couldn't pinpoint the person's voice, but now it was painfully obvious on who it was. 'Yeah. Are you Nagisa?'

On the other side, Nagisa was a bit astonished. He didn't think Rin-chan's little sister could pick up his voice that easily. 'Yep! How did you know?

Gou paused for a while to think about what her older brother had first said about Nagisa before responding. 'My older brother told me that you were the one that always calls him Rin-chan.'

Nagisa's face fell. 'Eh? That's all he said about me?'

Gou shook her head. 'No, he also told me other stuff. Like how you're really good at breaststroke.'

Nagisa immediately lit up. 'Really? Rin-chan said that about me?'

Gou nodded. 'Uh-huh. He talks a lot about the relay team.'

'Really?'

'Yeah. He's really proud of you guys.' Gou responded as she thought back to the relay. She beamed as remembered the ecstatic looks on their faces. And even before then her older brother _would not stop _talking about the relay. In fact, it was like it was the only thing he _could_ talk about. But she didn't mind. She kind of liked his excessive ramblings about it. He sounded so excited when he did. 'Congratulations on your big win by the way,' she added.

'Ah, thanks Rin-chan's sister! Hey can ask you for a favour?'

Gou thought about it for a moment. She didn't know Nagisa very well, but since he was one of her older brother's friends she supposed she could help out. 'Okay, but what do you want me to do?'

'Don't worry,' Nagisa reassured her, 'I fill you in on the details…'

* * *

Rin was in the midst of repacking his suitcase (again) when his little sister returned to his bedroom with an urgent phone call. 'Onii-chan, it's for you!'

'Huh?' Rin looked up at Gou. He then looked over at the clocked and then looked at his half-filled suitcase. He tsked, feeling slightly annoyed – both at the sudden late phone call and the fact that he still had a lot of organising to do. 'Are you sure?'

'Yep! It's Nagisa.'

Rin gave an exasperated sighed. What could Nagisa want at this hour? 'Hello?' He answered rather lamely, not bothering with formalities.

Nagisa wasn't in the mood for formal introductions either. He instantly shouted as soon as Rin spoke into phone. 'RIN-CHAN!'

Rin held the phone away from ear to prevent his eardrums from bursting. 'Geez, not so loud Nagisa. Why you calling me this late?'

'I need to ask a favour.'

Rin blinked. Nagisa sure went straight to the point. 'What kind of favour?'

'Well…' Nagisa paused before answering, 'Goro-chan needs our help with the pool.'

'What? Why?' Rin asked. He made a face and scrunched up his nose, feeling slightly confused. Why would coach need a bunch of sixth grades helping him out? 'Doesn't he have other people–'

But Nagisa cut him off before he could argue. 'Please Rin-chan? Haru-chan and Mako-chan said they would come. And plus your flight doesn't leave until the evening, right?'

Rin sighed in defeat. Well, if three members of the relay team were going to be there then he had to be there too. He _was_ the team's leader after all.

'Okay then.' After he said that Rin swore he heard Nagisa shout a big yes at the other end. Rin then paused for a moment. Thinking thoroughly about Nagisa favour, he realised one minor detail Nagisa forgot to mention. '…um, what exactly are supposed to do?'

'Don't worry, I'll tell once you get there.' Nagisa answered vaguely. Rin started to feel slightly suspicious then. What exactly was Nagisa planning? But before he could ask Nagisa quickly closed off. 'See you tomorrow Rin-chan, come at 11 o'clock sharp! Bye!'

'Bye.'

Rin hung up. He went into the main room to put the home phone back in its proper case. When he came back he saw Gou currently putting in the rest of his suitcase. She had a determined, almost stubborn look on her face that looked somewhat familiar to him. Rin tapped Gou lightly on the head. Gou looked up.

'Ah, did you finish already?'

Rin nodded. 'Yeah. Nagisa just wanted to ask me for a favour.' Rin stared at how his little sister had almost finished packing the rest of his suitcase. 'You didn't have to do that you know.'

Gou just smiled and zipped the suitcase up when she was done. 'I know, but this is the last night I get to spend with onii-chan.'

'Silly,' Rin ruffled his little sister's hair leaving it in a frizz. 'You and mom are going to send me off at the airport tomorrow night. I'm not leaving just yet.'

Gou giggled as she tried to pat the loose strands back down. She bounded to towards the door and then turned to face her brother before she left. 'Good night, onii-chan.'

'Good night, Gou.'

Rin switched on his lamp. He brought his suitcase in its upright position and backed it against wall near the door and then turned off the lights. He went over to his bed and stared at his passport and plane tickets on his bedside table. Rin picked it up, running his fingers over the small printed characters as he read it.

When he was done, Rin placed the tickets back on the table and pulled out two photos from the drawer. One was picture of him, Haru, Nagisa and Makoto when they won the relay race. The other was similar to the first one, however this picture was _much_ older. Like the first one, this picture also had four boys in it, and in this one of the boys was his dad. Rin felt his eyes well up. At that moment the thought of leaving finally hit him. He was actually leaving. He was actually leaving for Australia tomorrow. He couldn't decide whether he should feel excited or sad. So many emotions were going through him at once.

Rin put the photos near the tickets, making a note to make sure to not forget to bring them. He then turned off the lamp and climbed into his bed. 'My last night at home,' he thought. The phrase repeated in his mind over and over again like a broken record until he eventually fell asleep.

* * *

A family of four sat on a travelling train following the Iwatobi line. The mother and father were having a lively conversation with the elderly couple next to them while the two children, two brothers, sat side by side. The older brother was playing a game on his cell phone. He groaned when he lost the level he was on for the third time. The younger brother on the other hand, was fast asleep. His head rested on his older brother's shoulder and his mouth opened slightly in a small 'o' shape. His glasses drooped downwards and were about to fall off. When the mother turned to the boys and asked if they wanted some sushi, the older one poked the younger one to wake him up.

'Hey Rei. Rei! Wake up, we're almost there!'

The younger brother groggily opened his eyes slightly, mumbling his answer. '…really?'

His older brother laughed as his held his younger brother upright to stop him from falling to the now empty seat beside him. 'Well…not exactly. It actually in three more stops.'

Rei pulled away from his older brother's grip. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. He put them back on again and nudged them so that they were upright. 'Then why did you wake me?'

'Mom asked if you wanted something to eat.'

Rei felt himself sway slightly from side to side and his eyes constantly drooped. 'No, I'm not really hungry. I think I'd rather go back to sleep.'

Rei's older brother looked at him in slight astonishment. 'But you've been sleeping for most of the train ride, how are you still tired?'

But by the time he asked his little brother was already asleep again. The older brother chuckled. He took off his jacket and draped it over his little brother like a blanket. 'Sweet dreams, Rei.'

* * *

**_Present day_**

* * *

The beginning of spring was abundant. A majority of the snow from winter had melted away, leaving behind fresh new foliage and many trees covered in small leaves and flower buds. A number of cherry blossom trees had already begun to flourish and it wasn't long 'till the cherry blossoms were in full bloom.

Haruka, Makoto, Nagisa, Rei and Rin had just finished up their last joint practice for the school year and were heading back to Haruka's house for a sleepover. Gou, the Samezuka Captain and Nitori and the other swimmers had already left before they did because Rin had to pick up a few things. Nagisa had set up a plan for them over the last week of school that intended for them to have a different person host an event for every day of the holidays. They would each write their name on a piece of paper and put it in a container. Then one person would pull one name out and that person would be hosting the event – with a few exceptions, of course.

Makoto had hosted the last event. They had a hotpot lunch at his house and played video games for the rest of the day. And just before they left the joint practice, Nagisa had produced the infamous jar from his bag and had taken a draw. When he drawed out Haruka's name, Nagisa instantly poured a plethora of suggestions ranging from camping to going to the beach – which was pointless considering it was too cold. In the end – and with Makoto's help – Haruka decided on a sleepover at his house.

On the way to Haruka's house, the boys slowed down their pace and the discussions ceased as they passed by several cherry blossom trees. Rin, especially, found himself doing an awful lot of staring at the trees. He remembered back in elementary how he used to stare out the windows every known and then during late winter to see if the cherry blossoms bud appeared yet. He remembered how ecstatic he was to find that Iwatobi had a cherry tree right near the swimming pool. It was a shame he couldn't have seen them in full bloom, but at least he got to see them one last time before he left.

'I heard that there's going to a be a spring festival during the cherry blossom season.' Nagisa said absentmindedly, breaking the silence. He reached down to pick up a handful of dandelions and blew on it.

Makoto grinned. 'I know, Ren and Ran are really excited about it. We went to the one last year and they really enjoyed it.'

'Isn't the cherry blossom viewing at the start of the school year though?' Asked Rei.

'We went during the weekend.'

'That makes sense.'

'Why don't we all go then?' Nagisa suddenly stated, halting in his tracks and facing towards the other four who were all looking at him with curious faces.

Makoto ended up being the first one to agree. 'I don't see why not.' He shrugged.

Rei gave in as well. 'I suppose we could. Not as much work is given out during the first week.'

That just left Haruka and Rin. Nagisa turned toward Haruka. 'Hey Haru-chan, you want to come?'

'Not really,' Haruka replied. Personally, he would rather spend his holidays soaking in water.

'You'll get a cold if you do that, Haru.' Makoto chided. Haruka simply gave Makoto an exasperated sigh and retorted with a blunt statement saying that it would never happened, while Makoto agrue that it definitely would, causing the two to talk around in circles.

Giving up on Haruka and knowing that Makoto would probably convince him to come anyway, Nagisa instantly turned to Rin. 'You're coming, aren't you Rin-chan?'

Rin scowled and raised an eyebrow at Nagisa. 'Huh, who said I was coming with you guys?'

'Why not?' Makoto questioned, finally having convinced Haruka. He gave Rin a knowing smile; the one he usually gave him when reminiscing about the old days. 'You loved the cherry blossoms. You even said you wanted to swim in a pool filled with cherry blossoms when we were kids. It's still too cold to swim, though.'

Rin looked towards his feet and kicked a stone at the ground. 'Lay off it, I don't get excited at that kind of stuff anymore.'

'But, Rin-chan….' Nagisa pleaded. He looked up at Rin with big puppy-dog eyes and shook Rin's arm back and forth.

Rin's scowl didn't waver, but eventually gave in when he felt as if Nagisa was going to take his arm off. '…Fine. I'm coming home for the holidays anyway.'

Nagisa beamed.

As they got closer to Haruka's house they passed a store where a girl donning a purple, flower-pattern kimono was handing out flyers for the Spring Festival, along with paper wish tags and flower origami. The five of them all ended up receiving one, with Nagisa being the first and Haruka being the last one to write his wish. A large piece of red string was tied around two cherry trees for people to hold the wishes on, and it was almost packed. It was amazing that they managed to find big enough space to all put their tags on next to each other.

As Haruka tied his tag next to the other four he noticed a tag that was different from the others. A multi-coloured ribbon was threaded through the hole at the top. Out of curiousity, Haruka glanced at the tag briefly; there was a long message written on it. However, the writing was so small that the only thing he could make out was _'Thank you'_, which was written in bold characters at the bottom. Haruka decided to not think much of it. And when Nagisa called for everyone to hurry up, he soon forgot all about it.

* * *

**_Later_**

* * *

_'Join the swimming team, Rei-chan!' _

Rei woke up to a jolt. That voice he just heard; was it real, or simply just from his dream. It sounded so vivid that he couldn't tell. Going, Rei realised something. His older brother wasn't there. He removed his glasses for a while, and rubbed his eyes before putting them back on. Having a look around, he noticed that not only his brother was missing, but also the whole carriage completely empty. There was not a person in sight. Panicking, Rei instantly got off of his seat and was prepared to run at the next stop, not caring if it wasn't where he was supposed to get off. All he wanted was a way to contact his family, to see if they were all okay and let them know that he was okay as well.

But as the doors open and Rei rushed outside, it was pitch back and not a single person was there.

* * *

**...just how many words did I write? **

**..and why do I get the feeling that every chapter is going to be way longer than the next one? **

**Meh, I think about it later.**

**Notes:**

**(1) Gou usually calls Rin 'onii-chan' which is an affectionate term for older brother.********  
**

**************(2) Similar to Gou, Nagisa should call his sisters by a title. Nee-san is title for older sister (I don't know what he calls his older sisters though. Ane? Anego? Onee-san? Onee-chan? Either one of those, since they all mean older sister. The most likely on is onee-chan...I think.)**

******(3) In Japan people greet with 'moshi moshi' instead of hello (konnichi wa) when they answer the phone, ****but I'm going by**** the Drama CD translations here.**

**************(4) A Kotatsu is a small wooden table with a futon, or heavy blanket, over it, upon which a table top sits. It also has a heating system underneath, to keep you warm during the cold months.**

**************(5) I presume that Gou Birthday is a while after or a bit before Rin's (for now I assume it's in March). Looking at the cut off dates for schools in Japan (2nd April...I think) and the fact that she's in the year younger than him, Gou's birthday should be between early November to the of end March. If was born any later the cut off she would be two grades below Rin.**

**Anyway...so, how was it? Was it good, terrible? Give some constructive c****riticism on how to improve things - I won't bite. (I don't have shark teeth like Rin anyway.) Any flames will be put out by a huge waterfall...in which Haru is going to swim in? (*offscreen*HARUKA-SENPAI/HARU/HARU-CHAN?!)**

**...well, I better get going then...(Haru get out of the waterfall!)...see ya on whenever I'm going to update (Dates vary). **

**Matta ne :3**


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